Illinois state Rep. David Friess (R-Red Bud) | State Representative David Friess/Facebook
Illinois state Rep. David Friess (R-Red Bud) | State Representative David Friess/Facebook
In an Aug. 31 Facebook post, Rep. David Friess celebrated the unique soft drinks that are produced in Illinois. Those include Ski soda, RC Cola, and Dog ‘N Suds root beer.
"Whether you call it soda or pop, Illinois boasts a number of unique soft drinks," Friess said. "The most popular of those brands include Green River, RC Cola, Ski, and Dog n Suds root beer."
In his Facebook post, Friess shared a link to an Illinois House Republican Caucus blog that went into more detail about this topic, pointing out the production of Ski soda by the Excel Bottling Company, Green River Soda, which started in Chicago, and the start of the Royal Crown Company, which had a Chicago-based arm of RC Cola Bottling Firm until 2012.
The Excel Bottling Company in Illinois goes back to 1936 when Edward “Lefty” Meier used reward money after catching a bank robber to purchase a used bottling machine and set up a bottling plant in a family member’s home. It is now a third-generation company still operating in Illinois. The company produces a variety of sodas and expanded into craft beer, with the Excel Brewing Company in 2012.
According to a 2012 article in the Chicago Tribune, Royal Crown Bottling Company of Chicago announced it would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and planned to dissolve the business in January of that year. Back in 2001, it was the largest independent bottler of Royal Crown products in the country, but at the time of its demise, the company had just $28,635 in assets and $8.2 million in liabilities. At the time it dissolved, the Royal Crown brand was part of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, and the Royal Crown Bottling Company of Chicago hadn’t carried the group’s brands in several years, a Dr. Pepper Snapple Group representative told the paper.
As for Green River Soda, Atlas Obscura noted that it was created by Iowa resident Richard C. Jones in 1916, and three years later, he sold the recipe to Chicago-based Schoenhofen Edelweiss Brewing Company, in Chicago, which manufactured the drink until 1950. For 20 years Green River Soda was second only to Coca-Cola in popularity in the Midwestern states, and WIT Beverage Company, in California, acquired the brand in 2011.
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